The invention is directed to dehorners, i.e., devices for removing horns from cattle in slaughtering operations and more particularly a new and improved arrangement for the fixed blade and reciprocating blade of the dehorner.
Hydraulic, motor operated dehorners are known in the present state of the art and are shown for example, in the dehorning device of Rudolph, U.S. Pat. No. 2,257,245. The blades of Rudolph, one of which is a fixed blade and one of which is a reciprocating blade, are contained within a frame. The reciprocating blade is operated to slide towards the fixed blade and overlap it so as to cut the horn from the skull of the animal in a guillotine-like fashion. Rudolph also teaches a particular hydraulic piston arrangement for operation of the reciprocating blade which, after the cutting stroke, is moved away from the fixed blade to an open position. Devices as shown in the Rudolph patent remove only that portion of the horn which extends outwardly from the skull and are not able to remove the nub or base portion of the horn which is embedded within the skull bone. In order to comply with USDA requirements, all of the horn, including the nub, must be removed before opening the head cavity. The devices of the prior art remove only a portion of the horn, leaving the nub embedded in the skull, and because they cut directly through the horn itself, which is harder than the skull, the cutting is very difficult to effect and the blades sustain substantial wear and tear. The subject invention is directed to a new and improved dehorner which solves the problems of the prior art devices by cutting behind the horn and into the softer part of the skull thereby enabling removal of the nub of the horn. This is accomplished by cutting into the softer skull bone beneath the nub which may be accomplished by utilizing the newer blade structure of the instant invention.